Monday, July 7, 2014

Do metaphors hurt or heal?

The wonderful Independence Day holiday has passed and we're once again fully engaged in my summer session class, COM 1200.

The foundations of human communication is a portal course. In my version, we press hard into the value of social debate, where we respectfully examine all points of view and grow our independent, informed knowledge base.

An essential building block in understanding communication is the use of metaphors. We are forced to deliver bad news and state "don't shoot the messenger." Or on another occasion one notes an elderly person who pays for nursing home care, and adds the comment he/she is "bleeding out" regarding dwindling finances.

So on this day, I'm thinking what would communication be like if we, as a society, were metaphor-free? What if we simply stated our position, without the emotionally-triggered metaphoric indicators?

It seems we can be gluten free, sugar free, sodium free and grain free. Let's consider how to refine our minds along with our bodies.